Activists claim regime used napalm in Damascus air raids

Syrian government airstrikes on rebel-held areas near Damascus killed at least 35 civilians and more than hundreds are injured, on Wednesday.

The air raids hit the towns of Douma, Saqba, Kafr Batna and Hammouriyeh in Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold region outside the capital.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that more than 50 rockets were fired at several central neighbourhoods, killing five people – four civilians and one soldier – and injuring 59 others.

He added: “Syrian government forces have committed war crimes and have displayed a sinister callousness towards Eastern Ghouta’s civilians”.

Syria has become the site of a raging proxy war that features government-backed forces, supported by Iran and Russian Federation, facing off against mostly Islamist rebels backed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States and other nations.

Mortars and rockets bombarded Damascus districts surrounding the vicinity of the Russian Embassy, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, as well as areas of the capital’s old quarter, according to SANA and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Iranian foreign minister, in a news conference following his meeting with Assad, said his discussions had centered on resolving the crisis in Syria.

Meanwhile, a two day truce agreed on between Lebanese Hezbollah fighters in a Syrian border town and militant and rebels groups started earlier. 31 people were killed. A simultaneous ceasefire has been called to give relief to two loyalist villages in Idlib province. The government, for its part, regularly carries out air strikes against rebel-held areas on the outskirts of Damascus, particularly Eastern Ghouta which is also under regime siege.